Recently, news came out that Kemba Walker had seriously considered the New York Knicks as a destination in free agency. What would the Boston Celtics look like if he didn’t sign on last June?
In somewhat shocking news, the New York Knicks were actually seriously considered as a destination for a top free agent in recent years. Apparently Boston Celtics point guard Kemba Walker had the Knicks tabbed as an option last year:
"“Before Boston actually came along, the Knicks were one of my top priorities,” Walker said. “I was thinking that they were actually going to get another player, but it didn’t work out […] That’s pretty much all I can say though. The Knicks, they were definitely a priority at one point.”"
Who the “other player” Walker is referring to is interesting in its own right. Perhaps former Celtic Kyrie Irving was the supposed target. He is realistically the only free agent that you would put on hold your Walker pursuit for.
The key takeaway is clear, though: Walker was almost a member of a different organization last free agency. If that scenario came to fruition, the C’s would have lost out on the top two point guards on the market last summer, seeing as though Irving was a lock to skip town for Brooklyn.
What would the C’s look like right now if the Bronx-born Walker was donning orange and blue in his home city of New York?
Well, first, the point guard position would have been filled with the incumbent Terry Rozier. In theory, Rozier likely takes the same money he got from Charlotte–if not even less on a longer guaranteed number of years–to stay with the team that drafted him. There were no other suitable replacements for the starting position in free agency.
Al Horford is likely still a goner. The only thing that would have convinced him to stay in Boston and not accept a four-year, $109 million deal with the Philadelphia 76ers was Walker’s presence…which of course isn’t a thing in this alternate universe.
Instead, Aron Baynes likely becomes the starter and he isn’t traded to Phoenix–a move that happened to create cap space to accommodate Walker’s deal. That may mean Enes Kanter isn’t signed, and perhaps could mean no deal for Vincent Poirier either. We hope in any universe that Tacko Fall meander’s his way to Massachusetts.
In truth, the team would still retain a lot of its properties from this season. The offense would still heavily feature Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward, and Marcus Smart in similar roles that they have now.
The main difference is the amount of attention each would get from defenses without the presence of an All-NBA point guard in Walker. Who knows if Tatum and Brown still become 20+ points per game scorers with more attention from defenses. On the flip side, without Walker’s 16 shots per game, perhaps the duo has higher point totals on more volume.
Luckily, the C’s were able to replace one All-Star point guard with another last summer. They almost didn’t, and the lack of an established All-NBA talent could have lowered the ceiling and expectations for the Boston Celtics in 2019-20.
Next. Is it time to worry about Kemba Walker?. dark